Category Archives: Human Resources

01 Dec

Employer of Choice – Just Say No!

We all see the words.  Businesses promote it as if somehow it makes them unique; “WE are an employer of choice.”  “Join us here at XYZ Company; We are an Employer of Choice.”  As if that is the only reason anyone would want to work for any company.  There are many problems with being an Employer of Choice (EOC).  To begin with, any employer can simply decide they are one.

Further, everyone seemingly is one.  There is nothing unique about being an employer of choice.  THAT is the problem; being an employer of choice does nothing for your business.

So what’s the solution?

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10 Nov

Workforce Stability is a Key Performance Indicator

How many of you reading this have experienced a layoff?  Not enough work and BOOM, laid off.  Discontinuing a product or service line and BOOM, laid off.  It is painful as an employee and painful as a business.  Further, the cycle of hire and layoff can be damaging to a businesses Brand and future recruiting efforts.  After all, who wants to take a job when you know in a few months you will most likely be laid off.  There is a way to eliminate or significantly reduce this practice for most businesses.  It takes work, you have to be patient and persevering, you have to use math, but it is proven time and again to help businesses succeed.  It has been proven to drive business success in such a way that staffing the workforce becomes less of a problem.  What is this process?

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13 Oct

Covering Up Culture With Compensation

Our current talent shortage is not the first one American Business has faced.  We saw it during the Dot-Com bubble, and different industries have experienced it in a more specific way.  During each of these periods of shortage one trend is constant; to compete businesses feel they must increase the compensation of their employees to attract and retain them.  It doesn’t work.  Someone will always pay more and business will continue to raise wages to be competitive.

More often than not the number one reason that business does not succeed in attracting and retaining talent is their culture.  A friend of mine, Mark Leupold of Express Employment Professionals in Appleton Wisconsin describes this business worst practice as “Covering Up Culture With Compensation.”  With qualification, he is profoundly correct. We are not suggesting that you not pay fair or competitive wages, but we are suggesting that there are other methods that not only are more effective but won’t harm your business.  What does that mean?

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28 Jul

We Need Talent But We Won’t Hire Older Workers

Much has been said about the growing lack of skilled and talented workers in the US.  In fact, the talent shortage is actually slowing down business growth.  According to the Wall Street Journal in a July 2014 article, “33% of small-business owners and chief executives said they had unfilled job openings in June because they couldn’t identify qualified applicants, up from 31% of 811 owners nearly two years ago.”  It’s even more difficult today.  Finding Qualified Quality Applicants shouldn’t be that hard and older workers are an untapped resource that shoe be given serious consideration.

What makes me shake my head in amused disbelief is that many companies experiencing talent shortages are also experiencing slow or low productivity. While they may be profitable, they are nowhere close to the levels they could achieve. All because of the limiting beliefs created by myth.  That myth is based on a mantra that states “We won’t hire older workers.”

Do Businesses Really Say That?

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07 Jul

Beat the Labor Shortage With Higher Quality Employees

In a June 6, 2018, USAToday article, Jeff Cox writes about our current labor shortage, “there are now more openings than there are workers.” He later shares, “there were just shy of 6.7 million open positions in April, “ and then, “As of April, the total workers looking and eligible for jobs fell to 6.35 million, a decrease from 6.58 million the previous month. The number fell further in May to 6.06 million.”  In other words, we have a labor shortage that is growing.

Further, in the article, he shares, “Given these trends, the sluggish wage growth rate is even more perplexing,” said Cathy Barrera, chief economist at ZipRecruiter, an online employment marketplace. “If employers want to fill these 6.7 million job openings, they are either going to have to raise wages or find more clever and creative ways to recruit workers off the sidelines.”

Raising wages is something that not all businesses can do, especially direct wages.  However, creating an environment where you have higher quality employees who are rewarded for increases the business achieves as a result of the efforts of the higher quality employees could be an answer that any business can do.  In essence, you can create a process that eliminates any perception of a labor shortage.

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